Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread

[Sciatic]

He just didn't have the legs, according to post race interview:
"C’était une longue journée. C’est clair que je n’avais pas les meilleures jambes dans le final. Je dois l’accepter et regarder vers l’avant. Pourtant, je me sentais bien, jusque dans la côte de Desnié…"
It was a long race. It is clear that I didn't have the best legs in the final. I must accept that and look to what's ahead. Yet, I felt good, until on the cote de Desnie"

"La course était trop longue pour moi aujourd’hui." The race was too long for me today.

59e de Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Remco Evenepoel n’avait pas les jambes : 'La course était trop longue pour moi aujourd’hui' - RTBF Actus

Il n'y a finalement pas eu match entre Tadej Pogacar et Remco Evenepoel ce dimanche, sur Liège-Bastogne-Liège. 59e à...

www.rtbf.be

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Problem being that the yes-men will follow him. When he was in talks with Bora it was also to bring along some riders like Van Wilder, and staff like Lodewyck, Pelgrim

They will follow if he asks them along. Which is why i said the realisation has to come from within himself and he has to want to change things.

Wow, he really said this?

I think he said otherwise he could have won, not would have won.

 

[red_flanders]

He just didn't have the legs, according to post race interview:
"C’était une longue journée. C’est clair que je n’avais pas les meilleures jambes dans le final. Je dois l’accepter et regarder vers l’avant. Pourtant, je me sentais bien, jusque dans la côte de Desnié…"
It was a long race. It is clear that I didn't have the best legs in the final. I must accept that and look to what's ahead. Yes, I felt good, until on the cote de Desnie"

"La course était trop longue pour moi aujourd’hui." The race was too long for me today.

59e de Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Remco Evenepoel n’avait pas les jambes : 'La course était trop longue pour moi aujourd’hui' - RTBF Actus

Il n'y a finalement pas eu match entre Tadej Pogacar et Remco Evenepoel ce dimanche, sur Liège-Bastogne-Liège. 59e à...

www.rtbf.be

Thanks for posting that. Makes sense after a long layoff. Glad it wasn't an excuse and he's looking forward.

 

[Unchained]

They will follow if he asks them along. Which is why i said the realisation has to come from within himself and he has to want to change things.

Cycling News latest is better trajectory. Suddenly embracing " low key" as better expectation than race favorite.
Guy has more talent in his little toe than 99% who have ever swung their leg over a bike.. I remember the turmoil of a few of the best blood lines like Marcel Kittel who have every physical gift and struggle with mental mechanics of making it all work out. I give mad respect to Remco for letting his wife carry some of the weight off his shoulders, and looking outside for answers instead of doing the same things and expecting different outcomes!! Something good is coming..

 

[Berniece]

They will follow if he asks them along. Which is why i said the realisation has to come from within himself and he has to want to change things.

Doubt that realisation will ever come

 

[KoopaCycling]

Remco won BP and could have won Amstel. Not sure how him participating in those is bad. Maybe he should have then skipped FW as he is always unlikely to win that. And perhaps even LBL to have a proper run up to Romandie. But that's hindsight. And racedays can be useful as well. We'll see how well he does in Romandie. After LBL he'll probably race it more like he raced Tour of Britain. Training being more important than winning. But if the legs are there, he'll probably give it a go regardless.

After that he has almost 2 months to get ready for the Tour. He ain't gonna ride the dauphiné to win it methinks.
Just checking how far he's at. As long as he don't crash in Romandie ofcourse.

Will also add that i'm not a fan of the Vingegaard strat of putting all your eggs in one basket. If you do that, you're one crash away from having lost an entire season.

I said a couple of weeks ago Remco should aim for
-BP
-Romandie
- National TT
-UEC RR

and give his all in the Tour.
I still stand by that. Even if a Romandie win is looking more unlikely.

 

[LookProGoSlow]

Well, Evenepoel changed his narrative about LBL since yesterday and said at the pre race interview of Romandie that he did have the legs on Redoute yesterday but that his team was at fault not delivering him to the front before the start of the climb. Link to HLN.be (Dutch only I think) https://www.hln.be/wielrennen/reden...maar-aan-grote-collectieve-fout-lag~aeca6618/

 

[KoopaCycling]

Well, Evenepoel changed his narrative about LBL since yesterday and said at the pre race interview of Romandie that he did have the legs on Redoute yesterday but that his team was at fault not delivering him to the front before the start of the climb. Link to HLN.be (Dutch only I think) https://www.hln.be/wielrennen/reden...maar-aan-grote-collectieve-fout-lag~aeca6618/

He also said he was done in the last hour. Also used we as in himself as well.

 

[jmdirt]

He said he just didn't have the legs in the final climbs.

Yes, as expected, but maybe he needed to visit the side of the road too?

 

[Sciatic]

Well, Evenepoel changed his narrative about LBL since yesterday and said at the pre race interview of Romandie that he did have the legs on Redoute yesterday but that his team was at fault not delivering him to the front before the start of the climb. Link to HLN.be (Dutch only I think) https://www.hln.be/wielrennen/reden...maar-aan-grote-collectieve-fout-lag~aeca6618/

Strange. That doesn't seem to fit with watching that part of the race, because there were hardly any Soudal riders anywhere around. I guess he or someone could fault them for not being good enough period, but how can you expect them to position their leader at the front if the remaining domestiques can't even make it to the front?

 

[Netserk]

Well, Evenepoel changed his narrative about LBL since yesterday and said at the pre race interview of Romandie that he did have the legs on Redoute yesterday but that his team was at fault not delivering him to the front before the start of the climb. Link to HLN.be (Dutch only I think) https://www.hln.be/wielrennen/reden...maar-aan-grote-collectieve-fout-lag~aeca6618/

“That was a major collective error. We were too far back on La Redoute. My form was there — my power numbers on La Redoute were better than in the editions I’ve won. With a better position I could’ve gone with Healy and Ciccone (in the chase behind Pogacar, ed.). It wasn’t my absolute best day and I felt a bit tired in the final, but it was actually pretty decent.”

“We were far too badly positioned at the foot of La Redoute. We didn’t race aggressively enough heading into that climb. It’s a shame, because I actually had the legs to stay with the second group. It would’ve made for a very different race.”


So why give up and hide on RaF? Poor mentality.

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

Tbf positioning have been a big issue in all 3 ardenne classic for QS and Remco. However, still there was somenthing not running proprly for Remco himself yesterday, be it psicological or physical

 

[Sciatic]

“That was a major collective error. We were too far back on La Redoute. My form was there — my power numbers on La Redoute were better than in the editions I’ve won. With a better position I could’ve gone with Healy and Ciccone (in the chase behind Pogacar, ed.). It wasn’t my absolute best day and I felt a bit tired in the final, but it was actually pretty decent.”

“We were far too badly positioned at the foot of La Redoute. We didn’t race aggressively enough heading into that climb. It’s a shame, because I actually had the legs to stay with the second group. It would’ve made for a very different race.”


So why give up and hide on RaF? Poor mentality.

Wow. very different than what he said to RTBF in post-race interview.

 

[LookProGoSlow]

He also said he was done in the last hour. Also used we as in himself as well.

True. He also said he did better numbers on Redoute yesterday than in the editions he won the race.

 

[Rackham]

Evenepoel is evidently like Yates. As in there are two of them, aka twins.

The super confident cocky one is going to Romandie whilst the super honest not-so-sure of himself Evenepoel raced Liège yesterday.

Romandie Evenepoel is simply not happy with Liège Evenepoel's positioning and Quick Step's team performance. It all makes sense.

 

[Berniece]

Well, Evenepoel changed his narrative about LBL since yesterday and said at the pre race interview of Romandie that he did have the legs on Redoute yesterday but that his team was at fault not delivering him to the front before the start of the climb. Link to HLN.be (Dutch only I think) https://www.hln.be/wielrennen/reden...maar-aan-grote-collectieve-fout-lag~aeca6618/

Collective mistake is the same as the team's fault. Saying the team's fault makes it sound like not his fault, but his colleagues. While he meant it was everyone's fault, including himself.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Evenepoel is evidently like Yates. As in there are two of them, aka twins.

The super confident cocky one is going to Romandie whilst the super honest not-so-sure of himself Evenepoel raced Liège yesterday.

Romandie Evenepoel is simply not happy with Liège Evenepoel's positioning and Quick Step's team performance. It all makes sense.

Maybe there are two Remcos and you are the first to realize it? I would expect stellar consistency in GTs then.

 

[LookProGoSlow]

Collective mistake is the same as the team's fault. Saying the team's fault makes it sound like not his fault, but his colleagues. While he meant it was everyone's fault, including himself.

Hang on, his job is to win the race. It’s his teammates job to deliver him to the front. He is right to say they failed their job there. He may just not be right in saying it was the reason for him performing poorly. Yesterday he made it clear he did not have the legs. Pointing the finger at the team (yes including himself) the very next day is just weird and probably unnecessary.

 

[Red Rick]

“That was a major collective error. We were too far back on La Redoute. My form was there — my power numbers on La Redoute were better than in the editions I’ve won. With a better position I could’ve gone with Healy and Ciccone (in the chase behind Pogacar, ed.). It wasn’t my absolute best day and I felt a bit tired in the final, but it was actually pretty decent.”

“We were far too badly positioned at the foot of La Redoute. We didn’t race aggressively enough heading into that climb. It’s a shame, because I actually had the legs to stay with the second group. It would’ve made for a very different race.”


So why give up and hide on RaF? Poor mentality.

The thing with Evenepoel is he will give a different excuse every interview usually contradicting himself.

But "I could have made the 2nd group and the race would have been different" is hilariously compatible with dropping like a sack of bricks on the Roche aux Faucons.

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

True. He also said he did better numbers on Redoute yesterday than in the editions he won the race.

According to strava he did the exact same time of 2023 on Redoute. Of course yesterday was a pretty easy day with good weather while 2023 was not.

 

[Netserk]

According to strava he did the exact same time of 2023 on Redoute. Of course yesterday was a pretty easy day with good weather while 2023 was not.

Heavier now than back then, so more watts this time around.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The thing with Evenepoel is he will give a different excuse every interview usually contradicting himself.

But "I could have made the 2nd group and the race would have been different" is hilariously compatible with dropping like a sack of bricks on the Roche aux Faucons.

He did push the pace on Forges, reeled back the McNulty group and had the other riders fighting to hold his wheel there. I still think Roche-aux-Faucons was just him having given up on the race. He hasn‘t said anything about cracking before RaF, right?

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

Heavier now than back then, so more watts this time around.

The legend of Fatco strikes back, altough watts per kilo should favor lighter Remco slightly no?

On a side note, 2023 Remco and 2025 Pogacar kept a pretty similar pace after Redoute, although the latter was significantly faster on that climb

 

[Barkintheeye]

“That was a major collective error. We were too far back on La Redoute. My form was there — my power numbers on La Redoute were better than in the editions I’ve won. With a better position I could’ve gone with Healy and Ciccone (in the chase behind Pogacar, ed.). It wasn’t my absolute best day and I felt a bit tired in the final, but it was actually pretty decent.”

“We were far too badly positioned at the foot of La Redoute. We didn’t race aggressively enough heading into that climb. It’s a shame, because I actually had the legs to stay with the second group. It would’ve made for a very different race.”


So why give up and hide on RaF? Poor mentality.

If those quotes are correct he proves to a complete piece of s@@t and a total moron. So the team is to ”deliver” him into la Redoute? Ok fine but a quality rider wouldn’t need that and I don’t remember Pogacar whining about his team at MSR despite not being ”delivered” into Poggio.

 

[Red Rick]

He did push the pace on Forges, reeled back the McNulty group and had the other riders fighting to hold his wheel there. I still think Roche-aux-Faucons was just him having given up on the race. He hasn‘t said anything about cracking before RaF, right?

He was literally losing the wheel himself on La Redoute, then he closed some gaps he shouldn't have needed to close and if that fried him by the RaF already he wasn't that good to begin with.

Also, just giving up on the race when 2nd place is still clearly in play is not a mitigating option at all. That's probably the worst option.